'Made in California': kind of a mish mash, but has its strengths

Could it be the light, the varied landscape, or the progressive ideals, as Meg Linton proposes? She's the director of galleries and exhibitions at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, and she's also juror and curator of the City of Brea Gallery's latest "Made in California" group exhibition.

This is the 28th annual "Made in California" show, a long streak that should provide some insight as to what makes California art special. Linton selected 80 works from 655 statewide entries – a lot of art to choose from.

The vast majority of work on view comes from Southern California, with heavy representation of Orange County, which is understandable, considering the locale.

The show opens with an untitled, 2013 copper sculpture by Matthew Hillseth of Glendora. The shapes are a bit unruly and random, but there's also some method to the madness. The sculpture could represent a human figure, or a machine, or both.

After a somewhat unremarkable sumo wrestling oil painting, a warped wooden chair sits, challenging the viewer to wonder whether its unusual bends and breaks are intentional. La Jolla resident Scott Shoemate's "Chair #1" (2012), made of beechwood and walnut, has found its way into an art gallery, so its true functionality is, I guess, secondary.

The strongest piece in the exhibit comes pretty early on. Mark Clayton's mixed media sculpture, "Owlet" (2012), is made of an old-fashioned, metallic miles-per-hour gauge, probably swiped from some junked automobile. Clayton has turned it upside down, attached forks as feet and spatula blades as wings. A pair of old-school spectacles rests comfortably on the owl's face, making the whole a charming sight. The sculpture actually creaks and makes a faint, metallic noise when viewers walk by.

A time-lapse video of downtown Los Angeles by Venezuelan artists RalphGM and RandyFX is worth a stop. In "TimeLAX 01" (2013), the two have captured nighttime scenes of freeways, skyscrapers, LAX and Dodger Stadium, with the time lapse revealing all the zooming lights and activity occurring at these spots. However, any semi-frequent viewer of Los Angeles-area television has seen these images before. The extremely repetitive, synth-heavy soundtrack – which resonates from speakers throughout the first half of Brea Gallery – does not make this video any more enlightening.

The show features some nice photography, including "Noodle Cart" (2012) by Claire Liu of Hacienda Heights, "Marshmallow" (2013) by Brad Pettigrew of Anaheim, and "View to Blue" (2011) by Leslie Arnold of Irvine.

"Rhythm #B" (2012) by Echo Lew of Diamond Bar is a photograph on canvas of what appears to be a spider's web. It's large, spindly and quite mysterious.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS, LOW POINTS

In his 2012 colored pencil work, "The Home of the Brave," Jeff George of Mission Viejo has captured a telling slice of America. A beat-up couch lies upside down on the sidewalk, waiting for the trash guys to haul it away. In the background, a trailer in a mobile home park is decorated with American flags. Nearby, a rusted shack sits dilapidated, continuing to take on more burnt amber color.

Next to George's drawing is "Lights 1," a 2012 oil on canvas by John Tolomei of Santa Clara. It's a minimalist painting of street lights against a white background, and it's actually extremely well executed.

Cheril Russell's acrylic, "Pressure Sway" (2011), is a strong, colorful painting, with a female angel figure hovering over another woman who appears distressed yet comforted by the winged visitor from above.

Susan Driscoll's 2012 oil on board, "Push," is a realistic portrait of a Mexican snack vendor, pushing his cart on the street. It's a slice of daily life from Santa Ana, where Driscoll resides.

Other strong works are "Tattoos & Milk – Alex," a 2012 portrait by Rollance Patugan of Long Beach of a tattooed fellow resting in a bathtub filled with milk; and "Flowers for the Dead," a 2012 digital photograph by Trini Schultz of Garden Grove. A young woman is decked out in Day of the Dead makeup and flowers, with a hint of a white veil behind her. She stares skyward, her eyes a cool green-blue, while a butterfly is suspended in flight just above her head.

Colin Roberts of Fullerton has crafted "Glass Pillow" (2012) with Plexiglas and glue. It looks like a real pillow, yet it's rigid and hard as glass, even sharp at the edges. (I'm not encouraging you to touch this piece. Technically, you shouldn't.)

This exhibition does have its share of duds and boring pieces. No matter how much they are gussied up, the two classic car paintings don't do much except elicit yawns.

"At Bay," a 2011 oil on canvas by Robin Johnson does the same – yawn.

I cannot believe that "Some Kind of Nature, Some Kind of Turf," a 2012 watercolor and pencil on paper by Robin Adsit, won second prize in this show. What a travesty! Seriously, there are much better works in "Made in California" than three long logs on a mattress, partially covered by a small blanket. In fact, Adsit's "Small Piece of Turf" (ink and oils on paper, 2011), which depicts an older couple in a similar situation – on a mattress and covered by a blanket – is exponentially better than "Some Kind of Nature."

Along similar lines, I wonder why "A Gathering" (2012) by Katherine Winters, made of knit tin copper wire, won first prize. I don't really see what's so profound about wire hanging from the ceiling that vaguely resembles dresses or amorphous figures. Maybe this piece won because the 7-8 blobs look like ghosts? Beats me.

It should be noted that judging art is a very subjective process, and juror Linton must have had legitimate reasons for her choices.

In 2008, Linton organized "In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor" at Laguna Art Museum. It was a phenomenal exhibition, bringing together contemporary scholarship with a plethora of cutting-edge, "lowbrow" art.

I don't see anything in "Made in California" that pushes the boundaries in the same way, or ties the entirety of the exhibit together, or reveals something profound or unique about the state of California art today.

"Made in California" is kind of a mish-mash, but it's still an interesting effort.